Friday Night SmackDown emanated this week from inside the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia. What was initially expected to be a one-match episode unexpectedly turned into one that told a story for every woman on the blue brand as we are only two weeks away from Money in the Bank on Saturday, June 7th.
Following the usual opening of wrestlers arriving to the venue, the show kicked off for the live crowd with Womens Champion Tiffany Stratton. Walking to the ring and with a mic in hand, Stratton said that at this time last year, she was walking into Money in the Bank with all the hype in the world. Some people thought she was in over her head and that she would let the pressure get to her, but here she is standing as our WWE Womens Champion. Along her way here, she has beaten some of the best Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania and Nia Jax just last week. But in two weeks at Money in the Bank, someone else is going to have the same opportunity that she had, and she has this to say: if they try cashing in on her, just know that the entrance music of Alexa Bliss will cut you off.
Bliss makes her way out, and upon entering the ring, says that she doesnt think her and Stratton have formally met. She, too, is a former womens champion and Money in the Bank winner. Bliss has had her eye on Stratton, citing her WrestleMania victory over Flair as the moment Stratton caught her eye. She felt bad for Flair, but then she remembered that you cant really feel bad for a narcissist who needs to call herself a queen. She needs the Money in the Bank briefcase because its business; its not personal to cash in on Nia Jax, having done the same thing in 2018, but the difference is that Bliss actually liked Jax, and she doesnt know Stratton, who better pray that Bliss doesnt win the briefcase because if she thinks her rise to the top was quick, to just wait until her downfall.
Charlotte Flair now enters the fray, already clad in her ring gear. She says that if there is one thing shes known for, its humility; she may be the most humble 14-time world champion in the history of WWE. She wanted to come out here and humbly congratulate Tiffany Stratton for beating her at WrestleMania, adding that shes doing great, but her title reign wont last forever. She has done everything there is to do in this business except win the Money in the Bank ladder match. If thats the path she has to take, so be it. When she wins and cashes in the briefcase, not only is she going to take the Womens Championship back, she plans on taking back the spotlight, because when she wants something, she doesnt wait, she just takes it.
Stratton retorts and says that shes lowkey giving hypocrite. Didnt she say that cashing in and winning the title is the easy way out? What is she doing out here trying to qualify? The Buff Barbie also throws some shade at both Flair and Bliss, calling them a bit vintage.
They were the standard, and she is the upgrade, and whether they like it or not, for as long as she is champion, it is always going to be Tiffy Time. She then walks out of the ring, only to be met with a staredown from Giulia, set to face Flair and the Womens United States Champion Zelina Vega in tonights Money in the Bank qualifying match.
Flair threw Vega out of the ring to start. As Flair and Giulia squared up, Vega got back in the ring to attempt a quick roll-up on Giulia. From this point forward, the match became a competitive affair, with all three women jockeying for position. The action then spilled into the floor where Vega performed a moonsault onto The Beautiful Madness and The Queen. The three women then got back into the ring during commercials, where Vega was the recipient of a double-team attack from Giulia and Flair, who throughout the match were very clearly shown to be at odds.
By the time the show returned from commercials, Flair was taunting Giulia, who countered with a series of knees to the midsection. Vega returned to the ring, but was caught on top of Flairs head when Giulia hit a dropkick on both of them from the top turnbuckle. The match once again became a race for survival as strikes were hit and pins were made. Flair hit a moonsault on both Vega and Giulia, but only yielded a two-count. Giulia put Flair into the Rings of Saturn submission, causing Flair to shriek in pain. Giulia tried to turn the hold into a pinning combination, but her and Flair were hit by Vega, setting them up for the 619, which only hit Charlotte as Giulia dodged the moves execution. Flair eventually locked in the Figure Eight on Giulia, but that was stopped in short order thanks to a Meteora from Vega. Following that up with a Code Red to Giulia, victory slipped away from Vega as Flair broke up the pin attempt.
The end of the match came when Flair used the Figure Eight again, this time on Vega. Just as the Womens United States Champion was considering tapping out, Giulia targeted Flairs knee, sending her out of the ring and hitting the Northern Lights Bomb on Vega to win what was the SmackDown in-ring debut of The Beautiful Madness.
Giulia is now the second female from Team Blue to punch her ticket to the Money in the Bank ladder match, joining Alexa Bliss plus two women from Raw in Rhea Ripley and Roxanne Perez. Only two more spots are left open, and its not a matter of when those spots are going to be filled, its a matter of who is going to fill it.
Backstage, Zelina Vega was feeling some pain in her neck when Chelsea Green and The Secret Hervice laughed at her. Green told Alba Fyre and Piper Niven that there was absolutely zero percent of a threat. Clearly having overcome the depression related to her loss of the title, Green said that its amazing how Vega was a champion and still a loser, sarcastically saying that she doesnt know how Vega does it. Vega punched Green for the insult, which led to Fyre and Niven trying to restrain her only for Michin to throw some hands with her kendo stick, with her tag team partner B-Fab joining in the fight also. The brawl was quickly stopped by officials and SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, who agreed to give Michin and B-Fab a tag team match against Fyre and Niven later on.
After having been off SmackDown since Elimination Chamber, plus losing the Speed Womens Championship to Sol Ruca last month, Candice LeRae made her presence felt during a singles match between Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns and Tomasso Ciampa of #DIY, grabbing Sabin by his hair while the referee wasnt looking and helping Ciampa win the match, celebrating with Ciampas tag team partner and her husband Johnny Gargano over a successful distraction. The duo had mentioned in a pre-match vignette to needing a change after dealing with several losses, and it appears LeRae might be their ticket to winning matches again. With this in mind, could Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley recruit a female Superstar of their own as an equalizer? Well have to wait and see if this develops further.
A quiet Charlotte Flair walked alone backstage before she overheard the voice of Alexa Bliss talking about how important it is to have friends, because if you dont, theres no one there to help you up when everything falls apart. Flair goes What did you say?, but Bliss rudely says that she wasnt talking to her, revealing that she was actually talking to her doll Lilly, before telling her See you at Money in the Bank oh, sorry and walking off.
The tag team match between the tandem of B-Fab and Michin and The Secret Hervice was underway as B-Fab and Piper Niven locked up to begin. It wasnt long before Alba Fyre was tagged in so the two could double-team The Fab Female, eventually settling on taking turns with their offense. B-Fab did her best to fight back as Michin and the crowd clapped for her. Once she tagged in Michin, The Crazy One unloaded onto both Niven and Fyre with clotheslines and dropkicks.
Chelsea Green tried to distract the referee, but got attacked by Zelina Vega, who then ran away from Niven. Thanks to the assist of Michin with an Eat Defeat to Fyre, B-Fab took advantage and executed a modified neckbreaker to pin the redheaded agent for the win.
Naomi, Jade Cargill, and Nia Jax were all featured in a vignette to promote their participation in next weeks Money in the Bank qualifying match, which will determine the blue brands final representative for the match. For Naomi, she is sick of being undervalued, underappreciated, and underestimated. She says that the old Naomi allowed herself to be taken advantage of, being done with thanking people for the scraps they gave her. Shes taking her revenge, and shes taking back all the times she allowed Nia Jax and Jade Cargill to get the better of her.
For Jade Cargill, Naomi took everything away from her: her friendships, her title, her health, and her opportunity at the WWE Womens Championship. She refuses to let anyone take one more thing away from her, and shell be damned if its Money in the Bank. Next week, Naomi and Nia Jax better watch their back, because a storm is coming.
Nia Jax has only one thing on her mind, and thats the title. If anyone gets in her way, she shows them no mercy. Naomi and Jade Cargill got in her way, and she doesnt care about petty drama. But when someone ruins her chances at her championship, shes going to ruin their chances. Naomi may have been on her team before, but The Irresistible Force does not trust her, and she trusts herself to win. She doesnt care who it is, as she plans on annihilating everyone in her path until she gets what she wants. All three women want to take the victory next week, and most importantly, take the contract at Money in the Bank.
Another vignette aired, this time for Bianca Belair. She read a quote the other day that said, The only consistent thing in life is change, and that really stuck with her because she knows she tries to smile through everything, but if shes being transparent, the past six months of her career have been uncomfortable, difficult, challenging, and frustrating, between losing championships, losing friendships, her first loss at WrestleMania, and getting injured. Sometimes she wants to give up and forget all of it, but what kind of example would she be for herself if she lets all of that define her?
Shes going through it, but shes going to get through it. Shes been hit from every direction, but shes still standing. Shes healing her broken finger, healing her heart, and shes going to heal stronger and wiser, so heres to a new beginning. Shes been through so many changes, and she still came out the person she is today, so to rephrase that quote she read, The only consistent thing in life is change in me. She finishes off by promising that her best is yet to come.
It was then announced that Belair would appear on SmackDown next week. The blue brand will be in Knoxville, Tennessee, making it an appropriate homecoming for The EST of WWE.
Candice LeRae re-emerged with #DIY in the main event Tag Team Championship match between The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) and Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer and Axiom). While the team fought with the Motor City Machine Guns at ringside in response to earlier, the match itself was interrupted when the lights in the arena went out. When the lights turned back on, occupying the ring were the returning Wyatt Sicks, and with them was Nikki Cross. Cross locked eyes with LeRae and tackled her to the ground as the other members decimated the remaining tag teams. The show went off the air with the creepy faction standing tall in the ring.
Saturday Nights Main Event airs tomorrow night on NBC and Peacock for American viewers and on YouTube for those in other countries. Heres what is set for tomorrow night:
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee with the following set to take place:
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this weeks edition of SmackDown in the comments below.
